Mother jailed in US for abducting son

Fugitive mother Juliette Gilbert has been jailed for abducting her son Sky in the United States and moving to New Zealand.

A Washington judge yesterday jailed Gilbert, a 37-year-old website designer, for six months.

She has spent three months in custody awaiting trial on charges of custodial interference and unlawfully leaving the country so will be free in three months.

Gilbert eluded the FBI for three years after she fled from Washington with Sky, now nine, and came to New Zealand in April 2003.

She and her former husband, Roby, had been awarded joint custody of Sky but Gilbert alleged her partner was verbally abusive.

In New Zealand, mother and son spent time on Great Barrier Island and Kaikoura, before meeting and moving in with her new fiance, Craig Henwood, in Welcome Bay, in the Bay of Plenty.

Mr Henwood, a 35-year-old engineer, discovered Gilbert's wanted status on the internet after she left him unexpectedly in February.

Gilbert and Sky hid in a tent near Lake Rotoma in the Rotorua district for two months before the Immigration Service caught them when they tried to rent a property in Rotorua.

Gilbert is not allowed any contact with her son.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES